NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Martinsville, VA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
18 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Martinsville, Virginia since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 31 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 17
- Tornadoes
- 31
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
2 deaths in all
What the records show for Martinsville
The strongest storm to pass near Martinsville was an unnamed storm in 1896, a Category 1 hurricane with 78 mph winds when its centre passed 47 miles away. The record near Martinsville begins with an unnamed storm in 1859; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 20 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 4 systems. Of the 18 systems, 2 have come since 2000. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site, 74% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Martinsville. The highest rating among the 31 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 19, 2019, came within 11 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on March 20, 1998, killed 2 people. Of the 31, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 21 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 7. The most recent tornado was on September 27, 2024. Of the 364 Virginia cities, 57% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Martinsville. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 128 times since 1955, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Martinsville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 89% of the 364 Virginia cities.
Compare Martinsville's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Martinsville
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2018 | MichaelOct 11 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1996 | FranSep 6 | 47 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 5 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1955 | DianeAug 18 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 18 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 3 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 12 | overhead | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormSep 30 | 47 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 28 | 10 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormSep 24 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJun 22 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 11 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormSep 13 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 17 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Martinsville: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Martinsville
By decade
- 2020s4
- 2010s7(1 EF3+)
- 2000s10
- 1990s5(1 EF3+)
- 1980s1
- 1970s2
- 1960s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 1998 | F3 | 13 mi | 12 mi | 2 / 27 |
| Apr 19, 2019 | EF3 | 11 mi | 8.11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 27, 2024 | EF2 | 22 mi | 6.85 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 15, 2018 | EF2 | 24 mi | 32.75 mi | 0 / 5 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 5 mi | 8.8 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Aug 17, 1994 | F2 | in town | 4.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Jul 12, 1964 | F2 | in town | 2 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Sep 27, 2024 | EF1 | 15 mi | 0.35 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 2024 | EF1 | 16 mi | 0.89 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 6, 2022 | EF1 | 23 mi | 7.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 15, 2018 | EF1 | 23 mi | 16.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 16, 2011 | EF1 | 25 mi | 2.59 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 31, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Martinsville
The Storm Prediction Center has 128 hail reports within 10 miles of Martinsville since 1955, made on 84 separate days. Of these, 69 were 1 inch across or larger, and 6 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on June 7, 1955. The most recent report is from July 18, 2025. May has the most reports, 35.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Martinsville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Martinsville Fltr Plt, VA, in Martinsville at 780 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 48°F and 24°F. September is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 47.3 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (24.6 of 47.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 18 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (9); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 29 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 119 nights a year. Snowfall averages 9.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 47.3 inches is more than at 76 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (70%). Bassett, 8 miles northwest, has its own station (Philpott Dam 2, VA): 47.5 inches a year, 0.2 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 48 | 24 | 3.8 | 7 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 52 | 26 | 3.0 | 6 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 60 | 32 | 4.1 | 7 | 1.7 |
| Apr | 71 | 40 | 3.6 | 7 | 0.0 |
| May | 78 | 50 | 4.5 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 85 | 59 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 88 | 64 | 4.0 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 63 | 4.2 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 80 | 56 | 5.1 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 71 | 43 | 3.6 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 60 | 32 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 51 | 26 | 3.7 | 7 | 2.0 |
| Year | 69 | 43 | 47.3 | 79 | 9.4 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Martinsville Fltr Plt, VA (780 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Martinsville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 491 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Martinsville: 402 thunderstorm wind reports, 47 flash floods, 19 heavy rain events, 13 lightning strikes and 10 floods. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $21.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on May 11, 2017. May has had the most flash floods, 21 of 47. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 297 have had fewer than Martinsville.
June 10, 2011: thunderstorm wind in Martinsville — 1 injured, $1.5 million damage.
NWS: “Thunderstorm winds blew trees down all across the City of Martinsville. One tree fell on an occupied airport cab from Greensboro, NC.”
November 8, 1996: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Martinsville — 1 injured, $400,000 damage.
November 8, 1996: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Martinsville — 1 injured, $250,000 damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Martinsville's ZIP code 24112 have filed 44 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $592,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 18% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 86 have fewer than Martinsville.
Martinsville city, which includes Martinsville, has been named in 13 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 7 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 hurricanes, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms, 1 flood). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 2, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Martinsville City a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes and strong wind; Very Low for hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $3.4 million a year, the 116th highest of 133 Virginia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.0 million (58%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.